Pre-Congress Barcelona Walking Tour, May 26

The tour will take you on a visit around exceptional highlights that have left their mark of distinction on the city. You will also have a chance to see the great city project of the Eixample which had its continuation in the Barcelona of the future: the 1992 Olympic Games, Montjuïc Park, Olympic Village and Diagonal Mar (thanks to the FORUM 2004).

1. Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau
Our visit will begin at the Casa de Convalescència. The building belongs to the second phase of the Hospital which was commenced in 1913. The project was undertaken by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and his son Pere Domènech i Roura. It incorporates certain architectural elements very much akin to the “noucentista” period – recreating elements of classicism – while maintaining a harmonious balance between brick work and decorative motifs from the applied arts. Our tour then takes us through the modernist precinct of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau commenting on its urban layout (the equivalent to 9 blocks of the Eixample) and the pavilions: the wards and the underground network of passageways which connect the pavilions. We shall leave through the hall of the administration pavilion and the main façade and take the walkway down to the Sagrada Familia.

2. Sagrada Familia, or the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia
The Sagrada Familia was begun in 1882 by public subscription. A year later Gaudí became director of the project, a post he would hold until his death in 1926. Although it is not the cathedral of Barcelona (which dates from the 13th century), it is sometimes called Barcelona's third cathedral. It is still unfinished today. It is a combination of Modernista elements and a unique version of the Gothic style—seen primarily in its height, use of rose windows and arches, triple portals, and architectural sculpture.

Eight spires of a projected twelve have been completed. These towers rise to more than 100 meters and symbolize the twelve apostles. The pinnacles at the tops of the towers are decorated with colorful mosaics with various textures. The Facade of the Nativity was completed first. High up is a spire with a cypress tree symbolizes the tree of life. The scene of the nativity is framed by six music-playing angels. The adoration of the Magi is depicted on the lower left-hand side while the adoration of the shepherds is on the right. The bases are a tortoise and a turtle, symbols of the stability of the cosmos. Above the Nativity scene in the central section are the annunciation and the coronation of the Virgin, the visitation by Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, the Holy Family in their house at Nazareth, the baby Jesus in the temple, etc.

Passion Façade
The Passion Façade, devoid of decoration, is the symbol of desolation, grief and the death of Jesus Christ. The setting is sober, in the architectural elements—such as the columns, that look like bones—and also in the lack of floral and animal decoration. Its aim is representing the feeling of irreversible lost that Death means.

3. Park Güell
Park Güell is a garden city project. Eusebi Güell, Gaudí's patron, had in mind to develop his lands in the Gràcia neighborhood—some distance from the city at that time—into an English-style garden city. The project was not successful—only two homes were ever built. The Barcelona City Council bought the property in 1922 and in the following year converted it into a municipal park. Gaudí avoided leveling the grounds so that the park has a network of twisting roads which follow the contours of the land. The lowest point is the entrance, from which a double staircase leads to the hypostyle chamber with 86 classical columns, the ceiling of which serves as the floor of the huge public square delimited by a bench (created by Jujol) in wavy lines overlooking Barcelona. The many imaginative viaducts and colonnades throughout the park evoke natural forms.

4. The Eixample
The urban project of the Eixample was presented by Ildefons Cerdà and approved in the year 1859, when the last bastions of the city walls had already been demolished in 1854. The network of streets and avenues are set out in a N/S and E/W direction forming square street blocks with wide intersections to facilitate transport services and loading-unloading. The project led to the growth of a modern city which multiplied the area of the old city by ten. Today, 150 years later, it is still the most characteristic district of the city. Our tour will pass by the Milà building, the Pedrera and the Batlló buildings, projects of Antoni Gaudí in collaboration with Josep Mª Jujol, the Amatller building by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and the Lleó Morera building, work of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the buildings on the “block of discord.”